Suharyadi disagree on Pelti's coaching selection

Suharyadi disagree on Pelti's coaching selection

JAKARTA (JP): National tennis coach Suharyadi is worried about
the Indonesian Tennis Association's (Pelti) decision on the
process for the selection of coaches for preparations for the
20th Southeast Asian Games in August in Brunei Darussalam.

Suharyadi, who coaches Indonesia's No. 1 women's player Wynne
Prakusya, said on Tuesday the decision could create new conflicts
because players only had one month to adjust to their new
coaches.

Pelti decided to appoint two coaches each for the men's and
women's squad and a head coach to supervise the whole training
program. The appointment will be conducted after the three-day
national selection of players starting on June 23.

Suharyadi said: "Players need time to adapt to new coaches
because they have been preparing themselves for months with their
own coaches. It's not easy for both sides to get along well. It
will be a waste of time if the players protest and can't accept
new coaches."

He said new coaches must understand the characters of their
athletes, and that this took time. He also suggested that Pelti
pick the right players and improve their performance before
leaving for the Games, which start on Aug. 7 and end on Aug. 15.

"Each coach must prepare training programs for their athletes.
It will be too late if Pelti wants to select them all in the last
month."

Suharyadi said that he was ready to be substituted if he
failed in the selection.

"I don't have any problems if Pelti replaces me. But I remind
Pelti that we have been applying our programs for two months. Why
should they bother to replace us with only one month left?"

Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said Pelti would invite 10
coaches -- Suharyadi, Wailan Walalangi, Deddy Prasetyo, Atet
Wiyono, Diko M., Suzanna Anggarkusuma, Tintus Arianto Wibowo,
Hadiman, Yosafat Sihombing and Soegiharso -- to present their
training programs, based on sports science, in a meeting.
Suharyadi's wife, Yayuk Basuki, was not included in the 10
nominees. Yayuk is a former world top player and the 1998 Asian
Games gold medalist.

"All coaches have coaching licenses," Benny was quoted by
Media Indonesia as saying.

Suharyadi said he could not give a prediction for the number
of medals the teams could win in the Games because he had not yet
studied the national players' strengths.

"We can estimate a medal target when Pelti has set up the
national team," he said, adding that the strong contenders would
come from Thailand, including men's singles Paradorn Srichaphan,
women's singles Tamarine Tanasugarn and men's double Paradorn and
Narathorn Srichaphan, who won the men's double medals in 1998
Asian Games in Bangkok. (ivy)